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Research breakthrough · curated entry

McCulloch and Pitts formalise the neuron

A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity

Date
December 1943
Category
Research breakthrough
Organization / Model
Warren McCulloch & Walter Pitts
Evidence
2 sources · 2 evidence families

The two abstracted a neuron into a thresholded logical unit and proved that networks of such units compute logical functions. The model linked neurophysiology to symbolic logic and is the theoretical starting point of connectionism and artificial neural networks.

Curator's note: Cross-checked against the original paper and the Wikipedia article.

Curated sources · 2

  1. Original paper · Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics1943-12-01

    A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity

    doi.org

  2. Reference material · Wikipedia1943-12-01

    A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity

    en.wikipedia.org

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GB/T 7714—2025 (electronic resource [EB/OL])

AI 纪年. McCulloch 与 Pitts 提出形式神经元模型[EB/OL]. (1943-12)[2026-11-03]. https://aihist.net/e/mcculloch-pitts-1943.html.

APA 7 · American Psychological Association

AI 纪年. (1943, December). McCulloch 与 Pitts 提出形式神经元模型 [Web page]. https://aihist.net/e/mcculloch-pitts-1943.html

MLA 9 · Modern Language Association

"McCulloch 与 Pitts 提出形式神经元模型." AI 纪年, Dec. 1943, aihist.net/e/mcculloch-pitts-1943.html. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

Chicago 17 · notes-bibliography

AI 纪年. "McCulloch 与 Pitts 提出形式神经元模型." Published Dec. 1943. Accessed Nov. 3, 2026. https://aihist.net/e/mcculloch-pitts-1943.html.

IEEE · citation-reference list

"McCulloch 与 Pitts 提出形式神经元模型," AI 纪年, Dec. 1943. [Online]. Available: https://aihist.net/e/mcculloch-pitts-1943.html. [Accessed: 3 Nov. 2026].

ACM · author-date variant

AI 纪年. December 1943. McCulloch 与 Pitts 提出形式神经元模型. Retrieved November 3, 2026 from https://aihist.net/e/mcculloch-pitts-1943.html.

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